IT'S DONE!
I can't believe it took me THIS long to finish the chapter but I'm just happy I did -w-'
This chapter ended up being 3400 words long but I think it's fair considering how longer you had to wait so let's just say that it's your reward for being patient little muffins. UwU (I've watched waaay too much BBH lately -w-)
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"WHAT?!"

"You heard me correctly, I was an admin, an admin that failed miserably to fulfill his duties, but still and admin" Grian sighed as Taurtis sent him a contrived look.

"Hold up, hold up." Cub said as he stepped forward. "You're telling me that the same guy that had a weird obsession with chickens during season 6 and that started a freaking prank war was an admin?!"

The hermits might've sounded a bit mean by questioning their friend's abilities but Grian understood why they were doubtful: everyone knew the many responsabilies an Admin had and he was known for not being particularly reliable at times.

"Yeah and a pretty powerful one too!" Taurtis exclaimed, a bit offended by the hermits' reaction towards his admin.

"Why didn't you tell us anything about this G?" Mumbo asked after finally breaking out of his trance.

"Well... when the Watchers kindapped me from Evo they almost completely destroyed the spawn and I genuinely thought that all my friends were dead so... I simply didn't see the need to bring up these ghosts of mine to no avail other than worrying you." Grian's voice had a very obvious sad tone and Mumbo detected it in an instant.

"May I ask you some questions about the Watchers, Taurtis? I'd like to know more about them, in all the stories I've read about them they are considered kind and wise deities but considering what you said I'm pretty sure it's not true" X said, obviously wanting to know if the Watchers were to be considered a threat for the Hermitcraft server.

Grian's face clouded as painful memories of his training to become a Watcher flooded his mind.

Mumbo was the first to notice and quickly ran to his friend's side and put his hand on the avian's shoulder

"It's alright G, you don't need to tell us if it's a touchy subject." The mustached hermit gave a warm and friendly smile to his friend.

Grian felt reassured by Mumbo's smile and decided that it was time to finally spill the beans.

"Thanks Mumbo but I think it's time for you to know the truth, and after all, I want to know what happened to my server while I was gone"

Mumbo moved his hand and replied with a simple "What are BEST friends for!"

A strange frown appeared on Taurtis' face but quickly turned into a smile as Grian turned to face him and gave him a nod.

"I assume most of you already know something about Evo since I heard one of you mention the fact that there's a legend of some kind about it"

Some hermits nodded but since others didn't, Joe decided to give a quick summary of said legend

"For those of you who don't know, the Legend is about a server called Evo and its players. Basically the server was created in one of the earliest versions of Minecraft and some deities called Watchers guided the players to some particular portals that would bring them to the next version using riddles. One day though Evo and all of its players mysteriously disappearead without leaving any trace. Even the portal from the main hub disappeared which made many people question whether the legend is true or not."

Some hermits nodded to thank Joe for the information.

"Tsk, mysteriously disappearead they say... " Taurtis muttered under his breath before shaking his head and looking up at the crowd

"Well to be honest at first the Watchers were exactly like the legend said they were: they gave us riddles to solve to find their bedrock portals and they gave us gifts if we did something good and punished us if we did something bad." The hermits nodded.

"But everything changed after we beat the ender dragon" Taurtis said while casting a sad glance at Grian who looked away almost instantly: the blond wanted his friends to know the truth about the Watchers but he wasn't really happy to remember what happened during his last day in Evo.

"Basically we each defeated the ender dragon individually and it was no big deal for most of us, but things changed when it was Grian's turn."

"The Watchers manifested themselves and asked me to join them but I refused since I simply didn't feel ready to make such a change in my life." Grian added

"Unfortunately for us, the Watchers didn't take it very well and they destroyed the spawn kidnapping Grian in the process" Some hermits casted a pitiful look at their friend.

Grian never really talked about his past, the only thing they knew about him was that the Watchers gave him his powers, they never expected his story to be this dark.

"After Grian's disappearance things stayed quiet in the server for a while, until those stupid Watchers decided that our life wasn't hard enough and had the brilliant idea to cause us even more pain." The venom in the Evolutionist's voice sent a chill down the hermits' spines.

As Taurtis spoke, Grian remembered one of the first dreams he had inside the server since it matched almost perfectly the events that the other player was describing.
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After the Watchers destroyed the spawn the Evolutionists decided to settle themselves in the Grian Empire since it was probably the safest place there was.

After waiting for a couple of weeks they decided to send a patrol to see in what condition the rest of the server was.

It was a dangerous mission so nobody predicted to have many volunteers, but, what the players really didn't expect, was for Taurtis out of all people to want to join the patrol.

"Are you sure you want to go Taurtis?" Netty asked in a concerned tone.

"Why shouldn't I go?"

All the Evolutionists were looking at him but the player simply rolled his eyes and kept on sharpening his sword.

"Well until yesterday you used to lock yourself away and cry in a corner for entire days and-" Solidarity interrupted himself when he noticed that everyone in the room was glaring at him.

"What he was trying to say is that- You consider me an emotional mess and think that I might do something stupid." Taurtis cut off Salem's attempt to be nice leaving everyone speechless.

Taurtis was known to be Grian's best friend and since the moment he disappeared everyone knew he was going to be affected by it more than the anyone else, but nobody expected him to become a totally different person from before!

He used to be sociable and light-hearted while now he could spend entire days without talking with anybody and even without eating.

Now that he finally started to take care of himself he was always cold and distant and all the Evolutionists were sure that he was on the edge of having a mental breakdown.

"W-what?! Of course not! You know we would never say something like that!" Netty protested, taken aback by her friend's respond

Taurtis sighed. "I know you would never say it but you can't deny that you're all thinking it."

The player slowly raised his gaze to face his server mates, there were huge bags under his eyes and, despite the dullness in his look, the grief and sadness he was feeling were obvious.

"I noticed the special treatment you give me, I may be an emotional mess but I'm not dumb." Taurtis said as he slowly got up from the chest he was sitting on and walked up to his friends.

"I don't want you to treat me as if I could explode at any moment, because trust me, I won't. I know that in the past few weeks I haven't really given the best impression but... I realized that right now you need a reliable companion and not a depressed teenager."

He then brought his sword out and after lashing it in the air he pointed it towards the other players, a genuine smile on his face.

"If he wants to go he'll come with us, you know what they say after all, the more the merrier!" Pearl exclaimed as a wave of excitement washed over her after hearing her friend's determined speech.

Netty sighed before raising her gaze to meet Taurtis', a small smile on her face. "Alright then, since it looks like I won't be able to stop you I guess I should just let you go"

She then walked towards her friend and put a hand on his shoulder. "Just... be careful out there, okay? Just like you, I was pretty close to Grian and I could never forgive myself if something happened to you"

Taurtis gave her a warm smile. "Don't worry, I will"

He then gently moved her hand and walked towards Solidarity and Pearl.

"Are we ready to go?" He asked the duo

"Yup! We were just waiting for you." The Captain America lookalike (in case you didn't know, Solidarity's skin is a Captain America)

"Alright then, let's go!" Taurtis exclaimed as he started running towards the exit of the Grian Empire, the other two players were following close behind.

Netty watched as her friends' silhouettes disappeared towards the entrance of the mega base. A comforting silence fell upon the crowd of players, the only sound that was hearable was the roar of the water coming from the liquid walls.

"Please Grian, if you're out there watching us... Make sure nothing bad happens to them" Netty pleaded under her breath.

If only she knew what the future was reserving for them...

~~Time skip brought to you by this book being in the 92nd place of the Admin category, which is quite surprising if we consider the fact that I barely mentioned the word "admin" so far OwO~~

"Are we there yet? We've been walking for half an hour!" Solidarity exclaimed.

"Maybe we would've already arrived there if you stopped complaining and walked faster than a squid outside of water!" Pearl protested.

The two started arguing about squids as Taurtis just watched a couple of meters away.

He sighed. "Great, now these two will probably continue to talk for about an hour and I'll be stuck here waiting for them to finish..." He muttered under his breath.

He was about to throw a block of cobblestone at both of them to make them stop when suddenly he heard a rustling coming from the nearby woods.

He quickly jumped up. "Who's there?!" He shouted as he brought out his sword.

The other two players noticed Taurtis' action and stopped arguing as Pearl brought out a bow and Solidarity brought out a sword.

The wave of horror washed over the three players as a purple creature that slightly resembled a zombie stepped out of the tall grass.

It had huge fangs and a purple skin. Its eyes were completely white but despite their dullness it was clear that it didn't have friendly intentions.

"What the hell is THAT?!" Solidarity exclaimed.

It was then that Taurtis noticed the Watcher symbol on the creature's head.

"I think it was probably a zombie that was corrupted by the Watchers' magic, look at it's head!" Taurtis said as he pointed his finger towards the monster.

The zombie started growling and then in the blink of an eye it lunged at them incredibly fast.

Luckily Taurtis was faster and sliced his sword through its chest. The creature fell on its side and disappeared into a puff of smoke

"Nice reflexes, Taurtis!" Solidarity exclaimed. Taurtis was about to reply when he got interrupted by Pearl. "Hate to interrupt but I think that it's a little too soon to celebrate." She said without moving her gaze from the bushes.

The two boys turned to where their friend was facing and Taurtis could barely make out the rustling of the leaves when even more corrupted zombies jumped out of the tall grass.

From that moment, everything went by fast, so fast that the players could barely keep up.

Solidarity and Taurtis kept the creatures away with their swords and Pearl helped them out using her bow to shoot the rest of the monsters.

She was so focused on not wasting her arrows that she didn't notice the zombie preparing to attack her from behind her back. Solidarity did though.

"Pearl!" He shouted as he ran towards her friend and pushed her out of the way.

In that exact moment the creature jumped and tackled the boy to the ground.

Solidarity tried to squirm out if the beast's grasp but the creature didn't even flinch.

It was then that the zombie planted its sharp teeth into Solidarity's shoulder, making him yelp out loud.

At the boy's yell Taurtis turned around and saw what was happening. He quickly ran towards him and threw the creature off of his friend.

"Solidarity! Are you alright?!" Pearl said as she rushed towards her friend.

"Y-yeah, don't worry it was just a scrat- UGH!" He exclaimed, clenching his shoulder even harder.

Taurtis quickly stabbed the monster and walked back towards his friends as Pearl's expression became more serious

"Solidarity, let me see your shoulder, you're clearly hurt!" She demanded.

The blond sighed and slowly let go his shoulder go. The fabric was torn and the players could clearly see the wound.

Both Taurtis and Pearl jumped back in surprise at the sigh of the injury but it wasn't the blood that startled them, but the black lines that spread like a web from the wound. The marks of the creature's teeth glowed in a purple light.

"Is it that ba- WHAT THE HELL" Solidarity exclaimed as he looked at his shoulder.

"That doesn't look good at all. Let me see." Taurtis said as he leaned his hand to touch his friend's wound.

Just as he was a few inches from it, a few purple glimmers sparkled from the injury and the blond let out a little gasp before tensing up his body.

Taurtis quickly pulled away. "What was THAT?!" he asked.

It was then that Pearl noticed how Solidarity kept on looking at nothing. She watched closely and realized that he looked almost... Lifeless?!

"Why Solidarity, are you alright...?" She asked hesitantly.

No response

Taurtis and Pearl exchanged a worried glance: something was DEFINITELY wrong with their friend.

They started talking about possible ways to deal with that situation when suddenly a very low and glitched voice sent a chill down their spine.

KILL THEM

The two slowly turned towards their friend and noticed how he had got back up on his feet.

"Solidarity...?" Before they could say anything else the blond player took out his sword and pointed it towards the two.

"Woah woah woah, what are you doing?!" Taurtis exclaimed. He looked back at his friend's face but instead of seeing Solidarity's friendly sapphire eyes he was met with blank and cold purple eyes.

ATTACK HIM. NOW!

Without any warning, the blond charged towards Taurtis, who was barely able to stop his friend's attack with his own sword.

Pearl wasn't just going to stand her while her friend fought for his life so he quickly took another arrow and started aiming with her bow. "Don't worry Taurtis, I'll help y-"

"STOP PEARL! Although he might now be himself right now, this is still our friend Solidarity!" Taurtis said as he struggled to stop another attack.

Pearl wasn't too keen on the idea to let Taurtis fight alone but she knew he was right so she stopped aiming with her arrow. She wasn't going to attack him but that didn't mean she should've put her guard down, in case Taurtis needed her help she would've been ready to swoop in and assist him.

"Please Solidarity, you need to snap out of it!" Taurtis pleaded his friend but the blond didn't seem to react.

The raven-haired was getting tired of blocking Solidarity's attacks while his mind controlled friend didn't seem to even break a sweat. Taurtis (my phone changed it to rustic lol) knew he couldn't keep on going for much longer and that he needed to end that fight as soon as possible.

"Sorry about this, no hard feelings." He said before slashing his sword at his opponent and hitting his torso.

Solidarity let out a suffocated yelp and let his sword fall down as he out another hand on his new wound.

UGH, RETREAT

Shouted the voice, clearly annoyed by his new pawn's defeat.

Suddenly a wall of purple fire grew around the blond player and disappeared in a few seconds.

Solidarity was nowhere to be seen.
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"Ehm...Grian? Are you alright?"

Grian broke out of his flashback when he heard Mumbo's voice.

"Uh, what?" The dirty blond exclaimed as he looked at his surroundings confused from the abrupt ending of his dream.

"You've been staring at nothing for ten minutes now and I thought you fell asleep with your eyes open or something... If that's even possible." Mumbo said.

Grian smiled at his friend and looked back at Taurtis, who was still talking.

"And that's pretty much what happened to all of my server mates. When there were only two of us left, Netty and I, we finally found a way to escape that cursed server but when we were about to open a portal we were attacked and unfortunately, Netty was infected as well." Taurtis finished, letting out a sigh after his last statement.

Most of the hermits looked horrified, some gave Taurtis a pitiful look and others gave each other confused and/or worried glances.

Taurtis then looked at Grian. "This is why I need your help: being the admin, you have a lot more power over Evo than I do, you're probably the only one who could set things right again!"

The raven haired boy seemed very determined but then, all of a sudden his voice gained a very sad tone. "Of course, I'll understand if you don't want to come back with me. It's pretty clear that you've moved on and I don't want to force you into a possibly suicidal mission so..."

"Are you serious?!" Grian asked, baffled from what he just heard. "Do you really think I would leave you and the other Evolutionists to rot? I mean, it's true that I became a member of the Hermitcraft server but that doesn't mean that I would forget about you!" He exclaimed.

"Are you really willing to risk all of this for me and the others?" Taurtis asked as a shimmer of hope glimmered in his eyes.

"Of course I am! I'll find a way to get back to Evo and defeat the Watchers and, after saying goodbye, we'll-"

"What do you mean by 'after saying goodbye'? You're making it sound as if you were going back there alone!" Iskall exclaimed.

Grian and Taurtis looked at the hermits in disbelief. "Hold up, you guys actually want to come with me?!" Grian asked.

"Of course we do! We would never leave you to face something as dangerous as the Watchers alone!" Mumbo said.

"And I'm sure that of all us thinks the same, am I right?" Xisuma commented, raising his voice so that all the Hermits could hear him.

All of the hermits, even Doc, either nodded or shouted a loud "yes".

Grian wanted to cry: he knew that over the two years they spent together he became part of the dysfunctional family that was Hermitcraft, but he never expected them to throw themselves into an unknown danger that they found out about thanks to a random player that looked pretty unstable.

"Then it's settled." The dirty blond announced with a huge grin on his face. "Operation 'Let's rescue Evo's starts now!"

All of the players let out shouts of agreement.

"Or at least it will start after I fix Taurtis up because there's no way I'm bringing him along while looking like that." Grian chuckled.

"HEY!" Taurtis exclaimed as all of the hermits broke out laughing.
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Let me just take a moment here to thank all of you readers for checking out my book :3
When I first published this, I wasn't expecting this to make more than 50 views but seeing how many people actually read this makes me so happy! Everytime a new notification from Wattpad appeared I would always click on it instantly to see if it was someone commenting on my book and, when it actually was, it just made me grin like an idiot.
I'm really happy that someone is actually enjoying "An Admin's Allegiance" and I hope that the painfully slow updates won't ruin you love for this book.
A huge thanks to all of my friends from Discord that cheered me on to this point and abother huge thanks to you too, reader that doesn't even know me and just wanted to find a cringy fanfic to laugh at, I thank you all!
~Star